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This homemade Gak recipe is sure to entertain the kids for hours!! The gooey slime is completely squishable, and making it is half the fun.

Our family loves playing with this slime so much, we even made a glittery version! You can also turn this into an inexpensive but cute gift.

Two hands holding pink gak slime

Entertain the Kids for Hours!

With it being Summer here in AZ, things are getting pretty HOT, and the kids aren’t as excited to play outside, so I thought it would be fun to make Homemade Gak – aka Slime (It’s something I made all the time with my cousin growing up!)

It is so EASY and literally takes 2 minutes to make, but has provided HOURS (and I’m not even joking!), HOURS of entertainment! Every day, for a week now, the kids have played with this gak for at least an hour each day.

I’ve pulled out plastic cookie cutters and they go to town, and guess what?! I LOVE it! It’s hardly any mess! Here is how you can make DIY Slime/Gak as well!

Ingredients for making homemade gak recipe

Ingredient Tips:

  • Glue: Just use the good old classic white Elmer’s school glue. Nothing special! Off brands will work just well.
  • Borax: Sometimes stores don’t always carry Borax. You can order it on Amazon, or Walmart.com! One box will last a really long time.
  • Food Coloring: Gel food coloring definitely works WAY better than the regular liquid food coloring! I got Betty Crocker Neon Gel Food Colors and they worked FAB!! The Neon made it look awesome, but I ended up squeezing almost half the tube into the mixture because I wanted it to be really bright.
How to make homemade gak in a mixing bowl

How to Make Gak:

  1. PREP. Gather all your supplies together.
  2. GLUE + WATER. Begin by emptying the two bottles of glue into a bowl. Then, fill bottles with warm water and shake. Empty into your bowl.
  3. COLOR. Add some food coloring to the bowl of glue and water, then set aside.**
  4. BORAX. Add 1/2 cup warm water to your plastic cup. Add 1 tsp. borax to the cup of water and mix until borax dissolves. Then, pour this into your glue bowl and start stirring. You will notice how it starts becoming stringy. Keep mixing by using your hands and squishing the mixture around. A few minutes, it will become pretty gelatinous.
  5. PLAY! Let the kids play with it for a bit and it will become the perfect GOOEY consistency!
Making green gak in a mixing bowl

Storing Tips

Keep the gak stored in a sealed container or ziploc bag. It should last for at least a couple weeks, but it may start to develop an odor by then.

Adding borax to homemade gak

Activities to Do with Gak

Not only do the kids have fun pulling, kneading, and squishing the gak, you can also use it for activities like:

  • Trying to form/sculpt shapes
  • Using cookie cutters to cut the gak into shapes and figures
  • Cut it with scissors
  • Separate it into multiple pieces and practice addition and subtraction
  • Create imprints in the gak with plastic bugs, shells, beads, and other objects
Two hands holding green gak slime

A Note of Caution

Although homemade gak is an extremely easy activity for kids to create themselves (my kids who are 10 and older have no problem making this all by themselves), I would be careful with smaller children who may try to eat the gak.

The borax contained in the recipe is a soap used for laundry, and it’s toxic if ingested. So be aware of little ones who may try to eat the slime!

Two hands playing in pink gak

So fun and so easy!! This is seriously the best homemade craft/project I’ve done with the kids in a long time. It doesn’t smell and get all over like other gooey substances and it’s so fun to play with! PLUS, it is super cheap to make!

Gotta love cheap entertainment! ๐Ÿ˜‰

For more fun kids activities, check out:

5 from 3 votes

Homemade Gak

By: Lil’ Luna
This homemade Gak recipe is sure to entertain the kids for hours!! The gooey slime is completely squishable, and making it is half the fun.
Prep: 5 minutes
Total: 5 minutes

Ingredients 

  • 2 4 oz Bottles of Elmer's Glue
  • 1 tsp Borax (found in the laundry detergent section of the store)
  • Water
  • Plastic Cup
  • Bowl
  • Food Coloring

Instructions 

  • Gather all your supplies together.
  • Begin by emptying the two bottles of glue into a bowl. Then, fill bottles with warm water and shake. Empty into your bowl.
  • Add some food coloring to the bowl of glue and water, then set aside.**
  • Add 1/2 cup warm water to your plastic cup. Add 1 tsp. borax to the cup of water and mix until borax dissolves. Then, pour this into your glue bowl and start stirring. You will notice how it starts becoming stringy. Keep mixing by using your hands and squishing the mixture around. A few minutes, it will become prettyย gelatinous.
  • Let the kids play with it for a bit and it will become the perfect GOOEY consistency!

Notes

**I got Betty Crocker Neon Gel Food Colors and they worked FAB!! The Neon made it look awesome, but I ended up squeezing almost half the tube into the mixture because I wanted it to be really bright.

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

About Kristyn

My name is Kristyn and Iโ€™m the mom of SIX stinkinโ€™ cute kids and the wife to my smokinโ€™ hot hubby, Lo. My momโ€™s maiden name is Luna, and Iโ€™m one of the many crafty โ€œLilโ€™ Lunasโ€ in the fam. On this site I like to share all things creative - from recipes to home decor to gifts and home decor ideas. Welcome!

So Easy & So Yummy

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5 from 3 votes (2 ratings without comment)

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368 Comments

  1. Heather Gilbert says:

    Are you filling the two glue bottles completely with water? All the way to the top or just a little water to washout the remaining glue?

    1. Kristyn Merkley says:

      All the way ๐Ÿ™‚

  2. Halee says:

    Iโ€™m thinking about making this for a birthday party! Does this store well?? If I let them take some home in jars? Or is it a play one time with and throw away thing??

    1. Kristyn Merkley says:

      Not at all!! We like to store them in air tight containers. They last a while. Kids love it!!

  3. Martha Moyer says:

    is there a printable version I’m overlooking?

    1. Kristyn Merkley says:

      I don’t have it in like a recipe card, like I do recipes. The instructions are just throughout the post. It is super fun to make!!

  4. cass says:

    mine came out with too much water and rubbery

    1. Kristyn Merkley says:

      Did you dissolve the borax real good in the water?

  5. Pamela says:

    The slime turned out kind of thick how do you thin it out

    1. Kristyn Merkley says:

      I’m not quite sure what happened. I haven’t had that issue before. Did you stir the borax & water before adding it?

  6. Annie Jones says:

    We tried. A lot of fun with my kids.

    1. Lil' Luna says:

      I’m glad you had fun with them!! Thank you!

  7. Clara and Maria says:

    We tried. It failed miserably. =(

    1. Lil' Luna says:

      Oh, no!! What do you think happened?

  8. Jamie says:

    My 3 year old and I just made this. She LOVES it and it turned out perfectly.
    Can’t wait to try different colors.
    It’s already been 20 minutes of play with no signs of slowing down. This tired and pregnant momma thanks you!!

    1. Lil' Luna says:

      I am so glad she is having fun with it!! We love that stuff! Thank you!

  9. Debbie says:

    Watch the borax it is causing lung issues in kids their is a kid friendly recipe

  10. Yuen Mi says:

    OH wow. Great idea! Now I know exactly what to do the next time I babysit my god-daughter. She’s a ball of energy full of curiosity so this should keep her distracted for a good while. Thanks for this!

    1. Lil' Luna says:

      It totally will!! My kids can play with it for hours! Have fun!

      1. Lisa says:

        Do you refill the glue bottles all the way or just enough to get all the glue out?

      2. Lil'Luna Team says:

        I’d say just fill to the top to get the rest of the glue out.